Shibboleth
"Remember your name . . . !"

Alan Whitehead

Softbound

Regular price: $35.95

Introductory Price: $34.50

Shibboleth is Alan Whitehead's first novel, written with a love for both anthroposophy and a riveting good story. It has proved to be one of the most enjoyable, as well as thought-provoking, books I've read in ages. Alan's ability to engage, enliven and make new the old is drawn into full play in this story of intrigue, survival and renewal.

Out of the darkest of beginnings, the destruction of a family by the Gestapo in wartime Germany, the author weaves a tale of triumphant survival. When the Gestapo arrive after an exquisite performance of violin and voice by extraordinary musicians who happen also to be Jewish, the very young daughter is left with only her father's violin as a token of her family. She is also left with the admonition to "remember your name," to remember her sacred Jewish name.

By the time she is a young adult, ready to pursue against all odds a career in dancing, she has carried her father's violin with her, but forgotten all about her sacred name. It is her journey back to her origins, her father and toward who she really is that leads us into realms sparkling with spirtual light against what are often some of the darkest moments imaginable. Ultimately, it is the light that prevails, forcing the darkness into the distant background.

Along the way, we meet characters to love, as well as some we can all be grateful we do not live next door to. Alan's warmth and humor pepper the pages, making this journey one you'll remember with a smile.

The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily
Goethe's Fairy Tale

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Translated by Julius E Heuscher

Edited by Joan deRis Allen

Paintings by Hermann Linde

Hardbound

$25.00

The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily is one of the most important stories of the Anthroposophic and Rosicrucian streams. It is a timeless, allegorical tale of initiation and had a profound impact on Rudolf Steiner and on the formulation of his teachings. He called the fairy tale a kind of “secret revelation,” an “apocalypse.” As the authors point out in The Time Is At Hand! Goethe’s fairy tale begins with a specific image: a river separating two lands that contrast to each other, as do the sensory world and the spiritual world. The story ends with a bridge, created through sacrifice, that spans the river between the two lands.

Indeed, Rudolf Steiner was so deeply impressed by Goethe’s fairy tale, that he used it as the model for his first mystery drama, The Portal of Initiation. It is said that, prior to its first performance, he told friends, “I know how long and deeply you have loved Goethe’s fairy tale, and today I am happy to tell you that you will see it performed on stage.”

This is a fairy tale for meditation—and for building bridges of the soul and spirit.

The twelve paintings in this book represent the soul experiences of the “Youth” in the fairy tale. They are the fruit of an intense collaboration between Hermann Linde and Rudolf Steiner, who commissioned the work. Steiner visited Linde’s studio each day and provided him with detailed indications on how to treat the various motifs.

Once Linde had finished the original panels—done mainly in tempera—he had planned to rework them in transparent watercolor glazes, intending to follow Steiner’s suggestion of working wholly “from the color itself.” Unfortunately, Hermann Linde was unable to realize his intention; he died suddenly, just a few months after the first Goetheanum was destroyed by fire on New Year’s Day 1923.

For anyone who is unfamiliar with The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily, this excellent edition will provide an beautiful introduction to Goethe's delightful fairy tale. And for those who know it well, the images and fresh translation will give the story new life in the imagination. It also makes an excellent gift for all ages.

The Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Translation by Thomas Carlyle

Illustrated by David Newbatt

Hardbound, Dust-jacketed

$29.95

A true fairy story is a work of art. At Michaelmas in 1795, there appeared a series of stories ending with a Fairy Tale, "The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily." This tale tells of a magical transformation, one that, when the time is ripe, can be experienced by every human being. The author of these stories was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the creation of this Fairy Tale was to have far reaching consequences.

This new edition of The Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily is the inspiration of artist David Newbatt, who wanted to bring together the original English translation by Thomas Carlyle with a series of pictures. The marriage of Carlyle's flowing English with Newbatts beautiful pastel paintings reveals the seven-fold process that unfolds within Goethe's Fairy Tale. It is a process of inner development and personal transformation, a path both ancient and modern.

Together with the translation by Thomas Carlyle and the series of seven pictures by David Newbatt, the book includes an extensive introduction by Tom Raines.

Auragole of the Mountains
Book One of the Auragole Quartet

Shirley Latessa

Softbound

$24.95

Shirley Latessa has created a terrific fantasy saga that is unlike any other I've ever read. We enter a world that has been shattered by 500 years of warfare, where most people live lives of fear in semi-tribal conditions, and only a very few have been sheltered enough to remember what it is to be fully human. Into this torn world comes a youth upon whose actions the destiny of humanity will turn.

Auragole has been raised in isolation, away from the soldiers and roaming gangs, away from regional superstitions and laws; but, also away from any knowledge of, much less belief in, the spiritual world and the gods. When he emerges from his remote valley and encounters the world of people outside it, he arrives as a free human being. It is what he makes of his freedom, how he chooses to shape himself, that will determine whether he will aid the cause of humanity, or become its doom.

Auragole of the Mountains follows Auragole as he leaves the valley of his birth for the first time and encounters both friends and enemies in the wider world. He and his friends come at last to the Valley of Agavia, where a small group of people have preserved the knowledge of the gods and where it is known that the Last Battle, the battle against the Nethergod, will be fought, and fought soon. The future of all humanity will be determined by the victor. As Auragole leaves Agavia, it is still very uncertain which course he will choose and what role he will play in the Last Battle.

The author tells me she created The Auragole Quartet with both adults and teenagers in mind. I agree that teens are likely to love these stories. As for adults, well, I was barely able to put my copy down once I started reading. This is the first fantasy fiction I've read that has some real substance to it, that seriously considers some of the most pressing questions we humans face. Very, very highly recommended.

Auragole of the Way
Book Two of the Auragole Quartet

Shirley Latessa

Softbound

$25.95

Where Auragole of the Mountains told a story woven around dire but straightforward issues of survival, and thus had a semblance of simplicity, in Auragole of the Way Auragole encounters not just other people, but diverse societies. As he does so, the fabric of the story takes on a rich pattern and a complexity that echo his multi-layered experience. This richness makes for compelling, satisfying reading -- I surprised myself by finishing Auragole of the Way in about half the time it took me to read Auragole of the Mountains.

Auragole of the Way picks up where Auragole of the Mountains left off -- Auragole has chosen to keep his commitment to see his friends to the city of Mattelmead, where they hope to find a cure for one of their party whose life is threatened by illness. In so choosing, he declines Agavia's offer of deep training toward a personal awareness of the gods.

Almost immediately, disaster and death strike Auragole's little band and his course is irrevocably changed. Hiding, fighting, and running for his life, Auragole eventually comes upon the mountain camp of the only soldiers who fight on behalf of human freedom and love, and who prepare for the Last Battle. It is here that he decides to go to the aid of a friend rather than follow orders he considers not his affair. But, what he thought he saw proves to be very different from reality , and he nearly pays for his error with his life.

Yet, even as chaotic war is waged all around him, he also discovers art and beauty in the form of True-Singing. A True-Singer is trained to sing so that the listener hears the voice within whatever object of nature the singer embodies. Such singing is achingly beautiful and deeply healing -- and it becomes Auragole's chosen calling. Out of the depths of his earlier errors, he discovers his teacher. Auragole of the Way closes as Auragole follows his teacher to new adventures in Mattlemead.

Auragole of Mattlemead
Book Three of the Auragole Quartet

Shirley Latessa

Softbound

$29.95

As Auragole of the Way closed, Auragole had found his heart's calling - True-Singing - and was preparing to leave with Lorenwile, his teacher, for the only real city in his torn world, Mattlemead. Lorenwile is known as a True-Singer only among the few who have kept the deep knowledge of the gods -- in Mattlemead he is a celebrity performer. Auragole will join him in that role and train secretly as a True-Singer.

Mattlemead simply glistens in Auragole's eyes -- there are wonders on every street corner and marvels awaiting behind each door so far as he is concerned. It is not hard to see that the young man is simply awestruck.

A feeling of awe can open the heart to all that is good and true -- but it can also open the way to seduction and a loss of purpose. And, of course, as the clouds of the Last Battle gather menacingly on the horizon, the overriding question becomes what Auragole will do with his awe. Will he allow it to open his heart to service of the Creative Gods and thus tip the scale in their favor, or will he plunge into the sensations Mattlemead offers and become an ally of the Nethergod?

Auragole and the Last Battle
Book 4 of the Auragole Quartet

Shirley Latessa

Softbound

$19.95

The Last Battle has begun -- and it's outcome hinges on Auragole's choice; and upon Auragole's wisdom.

After the dizzying opulance of Mattlemead, followed by a dance of reversals and recoveries of astonishing order, Auragole comes again to Agavi. It is there his heart calls him, there he wants to be. But amid the battle preparations he soon discovers that even knowing what his heart wants is not enough -- not enough to know what to do, where to go, how to respond. Not enough to be sure. And the whole world waits upon his deed.

* * *

Shirley Latessa's final novel of The Auragole Quartet brings us to a seat-of-your-chair ending, one that will keep you turning pages right through to the remarkable ending. Having followed Auragole's entire journey, I have to take my hat off to Shirley -- she has told a great story that in many ways we all live, asked all the questions we ask and then some, and brought her characters to a truly heroic finish the measure of which I don't think any reader will guess before the end. This is wonderful reading -- and a tale told from a vista seldom revealed in literature.

Death at the Nave

Possibly the only murder mystery ever to center on education policy!

Keith Francis

Softbound

$18.95

While our supply lasts, we will send you a copy autographed by the author.

Death at the Nave is a wonderfully well-written murder mystery -- just the thing for summer reading or any time you need a 'virtual vacation.' It has all the usual ingredients that make this sort of reading such a delicious pleasure: well-drawn characters whose lives are a treat to share; a backdrop of interesting places and goings-on (an British boys' grammar school); oh yes, and a murder mystery to solve in the face of maddeningly shifting evidence. Great fun! And did I mention that it's really well-written?

What makes Death at the Nave much more than just a terrific summer read is what I call its "corner post" theme - the background body of knowledge that plays in and out of the story line. Most mystery writers have a particular expertise that they share with us as the tapestry on which their mystery is written: Dame Ngiao Marsh offers us insights into the worlds of drama and art; Susan Albert Wittig takes us into her herb garden and the world of plant lore; Tony Hillerman invites us into the sacred and secular world of the Hopi and Navaho reservations in the Southwest Four Corners.

Keith Francis does something startling (startling in part because it is so very effective within the story): He invites us to contemplate the far-reaching effects of bad educational policy, effects that, many years after the fact, can lead to both murder and child abuse.

Francis is a teacher with over 30 years experience -- 22 of those years as a Waldorf teacher at the Rudolf Steiner Waldorf School in Manhattan. The preceding 8 years were at an English grammar school very much like the Nave, the very school in which he himself received his pre-University education.

Francis knows whereof he speaks; he's an excellent writer -- and Death at the Nave is a outstanding contribution to a genre where the joys and sorrows of life meet so beautifully.

The Three Candles of Little Veronica
The story of a child's soul in this world and the other

Manfred Kyber

Illustrated by Iris Guarducci

Translation by Rosamond Reinhardt

Softbound

$19.95

This beautiful story came into my life as a gift even before our children were born. Then, after our first arrived, a dear friend made a poster size pencil drawing of the beautiful angel with the three candles, one of the many luscious, sensitive and wonderful full-color illustrations in this very special book. Our children lived with this in their room well into their teen years - and always felt its lovingly watchful presence was just for them. (And, of course, it was!)

The story, written early in the 20th century, is of a little girl, growing up filled with life and with a delicate sensitivity for both things seen and things unseen. As with all children, her growing up is characterized by both small seed-like occurrences as well as momentous changes and challenges. As Veronica nears puberty, her uncle can see with his own sensitive gaze that she will not be able to surmount a catastrophic memory from another life. And he saw truly, for Veronica soon becomes ill and her angel comes to carry her back to her spiritual home.

Despite the grief all who loved her feel, it is nonetheless the aftermath of her passing which shines more brightly even than Veronica's own three candles. There is the brightest, yet softest and most gentle, hope and joy as it becomes ever so evident that Veronica lives on, though in a different realm.

This unique story is one of beauty, hope and love. There is the delight of childhood and seeming tragedy of an early death. This is a story that reminds all of us that life only changes, never dies. It is a story very near to my heart, as well. I hope it can become a part of your life as it became a part of mine.

Joseph of Arimathea
a Romance of the Grail

Robert de Boron

Translated from the Medieval French by Jean Rogers

Softbound

$10.95

Written around 1200 A. D., probably in monastic circles, this is one of the earliest accounts of the Grail and its importance. It tells, in beautiful images, the story of Joseph of Arimathea's charge of the Holy Grail from the Last Supper to the Crucifixion, where he captures the Blood and the Water in the chalice of the Last Supper; Soon after, he is imprisoned for many years by the Romans, surviving without food and water through the life-giving power of the Holy Grail. When he is freed, a company forms about him to guard the Grail and see it safely to a place where it can be kept for all time.

This is one of the most powerful legends of Christianity - it has a beauty that resonates in the heart long after it is over. If you haven't yet read it or heard it, I can only say, "Do - you'll love it!"

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Retold in Modern Prose by
Jessie L. Weston

Softbound

$3.95

I think that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the deepest and finest stories in all of English literature -- the sort of story that you can return to again and again in your mind, and always come away with a new bit of insight about life, and groups and the nature of love and honor.

The story begins when a gigantic stranger clad in green bursts in on King Arthur's New Year's feast to issue a fearsome challenge to the knights of the Round Table: Any of the assembled knights may strike off the stranger's head - but that knight must be willing to receive a similar blow from teh Green Knight in one year's time. Only the gallant Gawain volunteers to uphold the dignity of Camelot. Sir Gawain the the Green Knight recounts Gawain's adventures as he seeks to fulfill his pledge to the Green Knight

The tale dates from the 14th Century or earlier and blends older pre-Christian symbols and understandings with Christian ethics and the Divine Feminine, celebrating the virtue of forgiveness. It also raises some fascinating questions about the role of human imperfection within a group, implying within the story that there can be no real acceptance by a group without such imperfection becoming visible. This is an amazing story!

This modern prose version of the Middle English poem makes it accessible, whether you are a teacher or parent wishing to learn the story to tell to 6th graders, or would like to have your high school or college students read it themselves. Of course, there's nothing wrong with buying a copy just to enjoy yourself, too.

From Isles of Dream
Visionary Stories & Poems of the Celtic Renaissance

Selected and Introduced by John Matthews

Foreword by Robin Williamson

Softbound

$17.95

Here's a great book you can read in a gulp or nibble at for months - some of the best and deepest fantasy on the planet!

In the Celtic heart, nature and spirit remained always intertwined. As a result, beginning in the eighteenth century with Macpherson's "translations" of the mythic bard Ossian - which swept across Europe inspiring figures as diverse as Goethe and Napoleon - contemporary poets and writers of Celtic origin began to rediscover their native spirituality. Then, at the end of the nineteenth century came the occult revival and therewith - in the words of W.B. Yeats - the provincial centuries ended and soul returned to the world. A sign of this rebirth was the "Celtic Renaissance" celebrated in this book.

From Isles of Dream collects the most visionary and universal works arising from the movement - marvelous anthology of stories and poems by writers of the early twentieth century Celtic Renaissance. John Matthews' selection of powerful, visionary tales is a feast of fantasy and imagination. Authors include W. B. Yeats, George Russell, Fiona Macleod, James Stephens, John Cowper Powys, James Branch Cabel, George Macdonald, Ella Young, Lord Dunsany, and Henry Treece.

Within the Hollow Hills
An Anthology of New Celtic Writing

Selected and Introduced by John Matthews

Foreword by George Mackay Brown

Softbound

$17.95

This sequel to From Isles of Dream contains some of the best imaginative writings by contemporary Celtic writers. Included are tales and songs by Robin Williamson, R. J. Stewart, Rosemary Sutcliffe, Caitlin Matthews, David Spangler, and Margaret Elphinstone. This is a unique collection that will become a favorite of all lovers of fantasy, imagination, and Celtic lore.

Introduced and edited by Iain Macdonald, these accounts of the lives and writings of Celtic saints each contain a historical and ecclesiastical background followed by selections from the original sources.

The Mistress of Spices

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

$12.00

Upon opening The Mistress of Spices, I found some of the most lyrical, liquid, musical prose I've encountered and a story to match them. This story is really a gem and the language that conveys it is balm to the soul. Here's a sample:

Therefore the first thing the Old One examines when the girls come to the island are the hands.
This is what she says.
"A good hand is not too light, nor too heavy. Light hands are the wind's creatures, flung this way and that at its whim. Heavy hands, pulled downward by their own weight, have no spirit. They are only slabs of meat for the maggots waiting underground.
"A good hand is not palm-splotched with brown, the mark of a wicked temper. When you cup it tight and hold it up against the sun, between the fingers are no gaps for spells and spices to slip through.
"Not cold and dry as the snake's belly, for a Mistress of spices must feel the other's pain.
"Not warm and damp as the breath of a waiting lover agianst the windowpane, for a Mistress must leave her own passions behind.
"In the center of the good hand is imprinted an invisible lily, flower of cool virtue, glowing pearl at midnight."

Do your hand's fit this litany? Nor did mine.
How then, you ask, did I become a Mistress?
Wait, I will tell you."

Sister of My Heart

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

$13.00

Beautifully written by my favorite "Mistress of Stories," Sister of My Heart tells a story that, like an old fairy tale, is so deeply true, so profoundly human that long after you close its final pages you'll find that your reflections shimmer from its facets the way the sun sparkles from a well-cut jewel. A real gift to the heart.

Here's the story: Anju is the daughter of an upper-caste Calcutta family; her cousins Sudha is the daughter of the black sheep of that family. Sudha is as beautiful, tenderhearted, and serious as Anju is plain, whip-smart, and defiant. Yet since the day they were born, Sudha and Anju have been bonded in ways even their mothers cannot comprehend.

The cousins' bond is threatened, however, when Sudha learns a dark family secret she feels she cannot share with Anju. Urged into arranged marriages, their lives take sudden, opposite turns: Sudha becomes the dutiful daughter-in-law of a rigid small-town household, while Anju goes to America with her new husband and learns to live her own life of secrets. Then tragedy strikes them both, and the women discover that, despite the distance that has grown between them, they have only each other to turn to.

I Heard the Owl Call My Name

Margaret Craven

$6.50

The Mists of Avalon

Marion Zimmer Bradley

$15.00

This remarkable retelling of the Arthurian Legend from the point of view of the women in the story is not just a wonderful and engaging tale with characters alive and multifaceted. It is also a masterful interpretation of the event of the meeting of Ninth Century European Christianity with the Celtic religion and the Divine Feminine. The encounter between these two very different ways of seeing the world is told with both an intimate depth and respect. To read it is to learn much about the human heart, human consciousness and our ability (and lack thereof) to really step into another's shoes. Beautifully written, told with sensitivity and wise understanding. Highly recommended.